Officials are probing how a 51-year-old highway bridge came to collapse in the Italian port city of Genoa yesterday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 16 others as it sent dozens of vehicles tumbling into a heap of concrete and twisted steel.

No obvious successor as Xi increases power

China's ruling Communist Party has broken with recent precedent to reveal a new leadership line-up without a clear successor to President Xi Jinping, who has become arguably the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

Apart from Xi, Premier Li Keqiang was the only one to retain his spot amid sweeping changes on the Politburo Standing Committee on Wednesday. There is now speculation Xi could seek to stay on in some capacity beyond the end of his second term in 2022.

All seven Standing Committee members are in their 60s and, for the first time, no member was born before the 1949 Communist revolution.

The committee includes one person known to be very close to Xi - Li Zhanshu. Li, who often accompanies Xi on overseas trips, was named the third-ranked member, meaning he will most likely assume the role of head of the largely rubber-stamp parliament. That will not be confirmed until parliament meets in March.

The Communist Party on Tuesday elevated Xi's status by inserting his name and dogma into the constitution alongside past leaders Mao and Deng Xiaoping, cementing his status as the country's most powerful leader in decades.

Xi himself made no mention of who his successor might be as he introduced his new Standing Committee in a large room in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, an event shown live around the country.

He did not take questions from the assembled media but said the party had weathered trials and tribulations.

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"These experiences have taught us that peace is precious and development must be valued," Xi said.

"We will also work with other nations to build a global community with a shared future, and make new and greater contributions to the noble cause of peace and development for all humanity."

Guangdong party secretary Hu Chunhua and Chongqing party boss Chen Miner had been previously seen as prominent contenders to succeed Xi among the party's so-called sixth generation of leaders but were not included in the Standing Committee.

Instead, both were named to the wider 25-member Politburo, a rung below the Standing Committee.